These days, the amount of information of a video signal is dramatically improved, and an ultra-high resolution, ultra-high gradation baseband video signal is coming into wide use. For example, Super Hi-Vision (SHV), in which the number of effective pixels is 7680×4320, is promoted; in Super Hi-Vision, the number of bits of each of pixel elements (R, G, and B, and Y, Cb, and Cr) per pixel is 10 or 12. Further, as the color format, the YCbCr420 format is becoming used in addition to already existing formats (the RGB format, the YCbCr444 format, and the YCbCr422 format).
For example, in Super Hi-Vision, in a case where the number of effective pixels is 7680×4320, the color format is RGB, the number of pixel bits is 36, and the frame rate is 120 Hz, the transmission rate is 171 Gbps. In a case where a transmitter transmits such an ultra-high speed video signal to a receiver, a technique in which the video signal is divided into a plurality of signals and each of the plurality of divided signals obtained by division is transmitted via a corresponding transmission path is used. A technology in which, in this event, the number of transmission paths used for the transmission of the plurality of divided signals is changed on the basis of the color format information of the video signal is disclosed (for example, see Non-Patent Literature 1). According to such a technology, the load on the transmission path can be reduced.